XIV

THE ASUKA AND NARA AGES—
AN ERA OF ADAPTATION

The Ruler is master of the people—the officials he appoints are his vassals.

SHOTOKU.

I

THE Nara epoch should be studied with that of Suiko or
Asuka (593-645) if the transformation of Japan under
mainland influences is to be understood. This transforma-
tion becomes articulate with Umayado—the Prince Regent
known to history by his posthumous title Shotoku—Sage
Virtue—and continues to the end of the Nara Age. He
was born in A.D. 552, and became a Buddhist at sixteen—
as ardent a convert as Asoka, with whom he is often com-
pared. Like Asoka he was a wise and far-sighted states-
man as well as the father of a civilization and the prophet
of a religious reformation. He wisely gauged the tendencies
of his time, and encouraged the already active process of
sinification. But he had the genius to see that the mainland
cultures must be naturalized, and to choose with unerring
judgement those Buddhist books and Confucian ideals
which could be best used to weld the State together, and to
foster a spirit of service. Like Asofca he also encouraged
the older religion of his people, and gave to them a code of
moral maxims which were of universal application.

Shotoku stands, in fact, midway between the old Japan
and the new—at once product and creator of a great
movement

Let us look first at his Code of Seventeen Articles—*a
useful key to contemporary sentiment*. First is struck the
note of harmony—those above must be well ordered, those
below well disposed. The second article teaches reverence
for the Three Jewels of Buddhism. Here, then, Confucian
and Buddhist ideals are put side by side and related to one
another: Confucian harmony is to be achieved by Buddhist